Americans were less tolerant of LGBT people in 2017

Only 49% of heterosexual adults said they were "very" or "somewhat" comfortable around LGBT people in some situations, according to the Accelerating Acceptance report. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Americans were less accepting of LGBT citizens in 2017 than they were in the last four years, a new survey found.

Only 49% of heterosexual adults said they were "very" or "somewhat" comfortable around LGBT people in some situations, the Accelerating Acceptance report released on Thursday at the World Economic forum in Davos, Switzerland found. The same poll said that 53% felt that way in 2016.

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"We are surprised at the scale and the swiftness" in the erosion of tolerance in the course of one year," GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told USA Today. "But if you are LGBT and living in America, you are seeing this every day."

The Harris Poll conducted the survey on behalf of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which acknowledged that these numbers are an about-face from the progress the group has seen since 2014.

Back then, 30% said they considered themselves "very" or "somewhat" uncomfortable with their child being taught by an LGBT person. It was 29% in 2015, 28% in 2016 and then went back up to 31% last year.

Similar trends can be seen among the poll's remaining scenarios: "having an LGBT person at my place of worship," in the family, as a doctor, seeing an LGBT couple hold hands or an LGBT co-worker's wedding picture.

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"(The poll is representative of) a permission slip for discrimination and bias," sparked by the 2016 presidential election, Ellis said.

GLAAD cited multiple anti-LGBT actions taken by President Trump's administration since last year's inauguration that it believes may have contributed to these new negative numbers, like the erasing of LGBT content from government websites, the reversal of President Obama's Title IX protections of transgender students, and Trump's attempted ban for transgender people serving in the military.

Violence against members of the LGBT community spiked in 2017 as well. There were 52 hate-related murders in 2017 — an 86% increase from the previous year, according to GLAAD. And 55% of people surveyed said they dealt with bias and discrimination in 2016 — up from 44% in 2016.

"We've been seeing this erosion happen very quietly and under the radar," Ellis said.

Just last week, another study from the think tank Movement Advancement Project showed that LGBT people are now avoiding situations in which they might be made to feel uncomfortable; with 34% saying they stayed away from public places like restaurants and stores after experiencing bias.

"The study validates what LGBT people feel inside," Ellis said. "I hear every day 'it's not like it used to be; I am nervous; I don't feel safe anymore."